The cyber threat landscape continues to become more dangerous and complex. Ransomware attacks have disrupted services to the public in dozens of countries around the world. Sophisticated cyber threat actors challenge even the best-prepared organizations and individuals.
In response, governments around the world have passed new cybersecurity laws and regulations in recent years, hoping to better protect societies from malicious cyber activity. We commend these efforts to keep our digital systems secure. However, as we’ve said beforethe fragmentation of cybersecurity regulations complicates our efforts to thwart these attacks.
This growing regulatory divergence across countries and across sectors makes it difficult to implement consistent security measures across jurisdictions and causes potential delays due to the complexity of managing multiple regulatory landscapes. It also exacerbates the global cybersecurity talent shortage organizations are facing.
To effectively strengthen our collective defenses, the public and private sectors must streamline regulations and promote international alignment, including reciprocity agreements.
Greater alignment of cybersecurity regulations is a growing priority for industry leaders. More than 50 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) from leading global companies, including Microsoft, have signed a letter emphasizing the urgency to take such action.
The CISO letter highlights key challenges created by the current regulatory landscape, including incident response and crisis management complexities during cyberattacks and delays in coordinating defense efforts. The increasing divergence among regulations across different jurisdictions also limits the ability of governments and private sector entities to share threat intelligence efficiently, weakening collective cyber resilience.
The CISO community calls on governments to:
Encourage high-level commitments from global policymakers to enhance regulatory alignment and promote a balanced approach to cybersecurity regulations
Facilitate international dialogue among regulators through established global platforms, including the OECD, ensuring diverse stakeholder participation.
Explore mutual recognition agreements and other mechanisms that streamline compliance while raising the global cybersecurity baseline.
While there are many cybersecurity conferences, there is currently no dedicated forum that regularly convenes cybersecurity regulators and provides an opportunity to learn from each other and to engage with industry to ensure we achieve stronger cybersecurity.
The joint CISO letter recommends leveraging the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), which is uniquely positioned to help drive meaningful progress across key countries. By convening relevant stakeholders, analyzing regulatory impacts, and providing data-driven recommendations, the OECD can serve as a key facilitator in ensuring cybersecurity regulations are effective and aligned across jurisdictions.
Collaboration between international organizations, governments, and industry is essential to translating these efforts into impactful, real-world solutions.
Countries around the world have an opportunity to lead together. Through cooperation across borders and sectors, we can reduce complexity, build trust, and create a regulatory environment that strengthens cyber resilience worldwide.
Microsoft is ready to partner with governments, international organizations, and industry partners to promote alignment in cybersecurity regulation. We invite all stakeholders to join this global conversation because protecting our shared digital future is a team effort.
Read the full letter from the CISO’s here.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings